


Intervention

by TheLonelyJournalKeeper



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Bisexual Character of Color, Canon Compliant, Dreams and Nightmares, Family Feels, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Headcanon, LGBTQ Themes, Loneliness, Male-Female Friendship, No Romance, One Shot, Self-Indulgent, Team as Family, Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-12-19 13:13:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11898468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLonelyJournalKeeper/pseuds/TheLonelyJournalKeeper
Summary: “Why are you all here?” the Director asked abruptly. She straightened her spine, gripping her staff hard.“It was Merle’s idea,” Magnus said.“Davenport!”“Yeah, after Davenport here brought it to our attention. He decided we should stage an intervention.”“An…intervention?” Lucretia was having a difficult time keeping up.“Yep,” Merle said gruffly. “You’ve been working yourself to the bone, running this whole operation. It’s about time you took a few days off.”





	Intervention

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to apologize in advance for two things. 
> 
> The first is that I changed tenses. Up until the first line break, this story is written in the present tense, and then the remainder is written in past tense. I did this deliberately, but it's still kind of weird. 
> 
> The second is that this is utterly self-indulgent, written according to my very specific headcanons, and overall not exceptionally heavy on plot. I just wanted her to have a nice time and it got out of hand.

The Director is so tired. She didn’t sleep well last night and she’s been awake since early this morning. This is nothing new though. She’s quite used to the sensation of running on empty. There’s too much work for her to do for her to allow herself any more time for things like sleep. What she’s doing is too important and there’s so much that she has to be the one to take care of. 

She’ll manage. She knows her limits.

She’s on her fourth cup of coffee. 

Work is slow today. The words on the page seem to take ages to reach her brain and she can’t quite get her hands to write as quickly as she wants. But finally when all that’s done, she stands up, setting the paperwork on her desk aside. She should go check on how the rest of the Bureau is faring. There are always issues to be resolved there and she wants to see how the Reclaimers’ training is coming along. She knows where she’s going to have to send them someday and she wants them to be as prepared as possible.

Before she’s halfway to the door, someone knocks on it. She pauses and returns to her seat. 

“Yes?” She doesn’t know who it could be, but there’s always someone on the base who needs something. 

To her surprise, it’s Angus McDonald (the world’s greatest detective), clutching a folder full of paper. She feels a vague sense of relief. It’s always good to see Angus and he’s unlikely to be the bringer of bad news. It’s much more alarming to see a Regulator or one of the guard walk in.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Madam Director,” he says. “Is this a bad time? I can come back later.”

She manages a faint smile. “No, no, of course not, Angus. What is it?”

“They—the other Seekers—sent me to bring you the latest reports on the search for the final Grand Relics,” Angus says. He sets the sheaf of papers on her desk.

She nods her understanding. “Thank you.”

“I’m—I’m happy to help,” he says. He’s studying her now. She knows that expression. He’s looking for clues though she doesn’t know what mystery he’s hoping to solve. 

“Um, there’s some promising reports of powerful magic from the Felicity Wilds,” he adds.

She flinches, almost imperceptibly but she thinks he notices. She shakes her head.

“Madam Director?”

“I want you to suspend your searches into the Felicity Wilds until further notice,” she says.

“O-okay,” Angus says uncertainly. 

“I’ll go over the reports and decide where you should concentrate your efforts,” she says, almost to herself.

He nods, hesitates, and says, “What do you have against the Felicity Wilds?”

She sighs. “Nothing. But you don’t need to search there. In fact, I’d advise you to steer clear.”

Angus, ever polite, doesn’t push though he’s clearly curious as to what she means.

“I’ll let you know what I make of the reports. You can go now, Angus.”

“Yes, Madam Director,” he says and he leaves.

He’s a good kid. It’s partly for people like him that she’s so determined to do this. She can’t let this plane continue to be ravaged by the Relics. They’ve inflicted too much damage already.

The rest of the reason is for six—five—other people. She has to do this for them too. So she can make a place that will be safe for them and they can be reunited—truly reunited.

She goes through a few of the reports before she sets the rest aside and takes a quick walk through the base. Everything seems to be running smoothly or as smoothly as it always is at least. Some of the Regulators are practicing sparring with Magnus. Johann is working on a composition. All of the necessary guards are on duty. A few Seekers are discussing a possible lead. She finds Merle on the quad making wildflowers spring up around him. She doesn’t know where Taako is, but that doesn’t surprise her. He could be off doing something planetside. 

She returns to her office after advising the Seekers to contact Avi about a trip planetside to follow the lead—the Woven Gulch sounds promising.

She spends her evening going through the reports. At seven-thirty, she looks at the time and realizes she missed dinner. It’s as she’s deciding what to do about this that Davenport walks in. He never knocks though whether it’s because he doesn’t remember to or doesn’t want to she can’t say.

He strides up to her desk, sets a covered silver tray on top of it, says his name once sternly, and stares at her.

Taking the hint, she uncovers the tray. Underneath is a bowl of soup and a sandwich, presumably taken from the mess hall. 

“Oh,” she says. She swallows, feeling strangely touched. It’s not his job to look after her—quite the opposite really—but he seems to have done so anyway. “Thank you.”

“Davenport,” he says gravely and leaves. 

She goes back to work, eating the sandwich one-handed. It’s getting late, but she really should finish these reports first. And someone put in a request for better equipment in the sparring arena. She’ll have to decide what to do about that. And—

It’s nearly eleven before she decides to call it a day. She doesn’t sleep well that night either.

* * *

The following afternoon, the Director was interrupted by a knock on the door to her office. Before she could reply, the knock was quickly made irrelevant by the door swinging open to admit a dwarf, a human, a gnome, and an elf in quick succession.

Startled, the Director rose from her seat. “What are you all doing here? Is something wrong?” She couldn’t think of another reason for the Reclaimers and Davenport to be barging into her office uninvited. 

“In a manner of speaking,” Merle said seriously. He seemed to be leading the charge on this one, whatever it was. 

The Director frowned at them, leaning on her staff. She’d unconsciously grabbed it when she’d stood and she could feel the power emanating from it, soaking into her hand and filling her with…with comfort and _resolve_. “What is it?”

“It’s you,” Merle said. His serious expression had taken on a caring bent so achingly familiar it made Lucretia’s heart hurt.

“I—what?” she said, bewildered. “Excuse me?” She looked at the others, hoping for some explanation. Taako looked aloofly bored. Davenport was fixing her with the same stern expression as he had the night before. Magnus was posturing in a way the Director presumed was meant to be intimidating. 

“You,” Merle said, accusingly, “are working too hard.”

“Davenport,” the gnome agreed and Magnus nodded.

“Wh-what are you talking about?” the Director said, crossing her arms.

“I mean, have you looked in the mirror lately? You look exhausted!” Merle said with his usual tact.

Taako snickered.

“Um, no,” she said, just as a sort of blanket reply to that statement. She couldn’t say she had. It could be kind of depressing.

“Oh, hey, hold on a second,” Taako said, still snickering. “I’ve got one here.”

He rummaged through his pockets, spilling a pack of gum and a salt shaker of all things onto the floor, before pulling out a circular compact mirror and handing it to her.

Somewhat bemusedly, she took it and snapped it open. Her own careworn face stared back at her. Dark circles lined worried eyes. Merle was right: she looked exhausted.

She closed the mirror abruptly and handed it back to Taako.

“Do you always carry a mirror with you, Taako?” Magnus said conversationally.

“Yeah, for sure, homie,” Taako said, not batting an eye. “You got a problem with that?”

“No, I do not.”

“Why are you all here?” the Director asked abruptly. She straightened her spine, gripping her staff hard.

“It was Merle’s idea,” Magnus said.

“Davenport!” 

“Yeah, after Davenport here brought it to our attention. He decided we should stage an intervention.”

“An…intervention?” Lucretia was having a difficult time keeping up.

“Yep,” Merle said gruffly. “You’ve been working yourself to the bone, running this whole operation. It’s about time you took a few days off.”

“You made me take that trip to the spa with you recently,” she answered. “That counts as a few days off.” 

“That was months ago! Last winter! It’s nearly summer now!” Merle said dismissively. 

“I suppose that’s true,” she said, frowning. “But I’m much too busy to take a break. The Bureau needs me.”

“Nah, we’ll be fine!” Merle said. “You can afford to take a few days for yourself!” 

“We’ll hold down the fort,” Magnus promised. 

“Look, I make no guarantees,” Taako said. “I mean, I’ll _try_ to keep this place from burning down while you’re gone, but you know what these chucklefucks are like.” 

“Davenport!” 

“But—“ _But every day brings us one closer to the Hunger returning. But every day I waste is one more day you have to spend without your memories. But I don’t deserve to take a break._

“But we’re on the cusp of locating another Grand Relic,” said the Director.

“It can wait,” Merle said.

“Can it, Merle? Can it really?” she said, agitated. “You three, of all people, should know how important it is that we collect all of the Grand Relics as quickly as possible.”

Merle crossed his arms and stared up at her in stubborn defiance. “Yeah, and I also know that you can’t do that on your own. That’s why we’re a team, isn’t it? So when one of us is struggling, she has the rest of us to lean on.”

Lucretia was hit by such a staggering wave of deja vu that she almost stumbled. Merle talking about them being a team…It was almost painfully reminiscent of the days on the Starblaster. He would always give them dumb pep talks like that. 

And he was right, wasn’t he? That was why she’d formed the Bureau in the first place. Because she’d had to concede that this was too big a task for her alone. She was only human. She couldn’t work all the time and surely, the Bureau could manage for a few days without her. 

Lucretia nodded slowly. “Fine. I’ll take the next two days off.”

“Make it three and I’ll stop bugging you about it,” Merle said.

The Director sighed. “Okay. Fine. Now get out of my office. I have to decide what I’m going to do about all of this paperwork.”

Merle, Magnus, Taako, and Davenport began to file out of the room. 

“Good work, everybody,” Merle was saying. “I think that went _way_ better than the last intervention I tried.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Taako said. “You guys wanna hit the mess hall? Interventions make me hungry.”

“Hell yeah!”

“Davenport.”

Lucretia watched them go, hoping no one noticed how rapidly she was blinking.

* * *

The Director dreamed one of her least favorite dreams that night. She dreamed she was stranded in the middle of a desert that stretched for miles in every direction, completely alone on the empty plain. She cried for help but no one answered and the more she walked the bigger the desert seemed to become until eventually she just collapsed, right there on the sand.

She woke the next morning at her usual time, looked at her clock, considered the situation, and made the conscious decision to sleep in for the first time in recent memory. She turned onto her side and fell back to sleep within moments. If she dreamed of anything, she had no memory of it when she woke up a few hours later.

She slowly returned to consciousness, bit by bit, feeling extremely disoriented but more rested than she had in ages when she finally sat up and blinked the sleep out of her eyes. She glanced at the clock again. Alarmingly, it was well after ten. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept in this late. She felt strangely guilty about it. 

She forced herself out of bed in search of coffee. And food. God, she was hungry.

Sadly, she didn’t have any food in her quarters, but she fixed herself a mug of coffee and considered what to do. She had a whole day to herself for the first time in a long while. What was she going to do with it? And what was she going to have for breakfast? Was the mess hall even still serving breakfast at 10:30? She really should know given she was in charge of this whole operation. 

Having mostly collected herself over her coffee, she decided there was nothing for it but to find out. She briefly pondered what she should wear considering she was supposed to be off-duty, but she really didn’t have anything less formal than the regalia she usually wore so she stuck with that. Unless you counted the old red robe she’d hidden away in a locked drawer in a secret room. She’d always been a creature of habit; she’d simply traded one uniform for another. 

No one tried to talk to her as she sought out the mess hall which was a relief. She would’ve instantly snapped back into Director-mode and she knew Merle would never let her hear the end of it if she was caught working on her day off.

As it turns out, the mess hall stopped serving breakfast at ten, but the cooks were, of course, willing to make an exception for their employer which Lucretia felt quite sheepish about. She would’ve made something for herself, but she didn’t have anything actually edible in her quarters aside from coffee and energy bars. So much coffee.

So instead she was treated to some of the best pancakes she’d ever eaten. Though maybe that was because she was so hungry from sleeping in. In any case, she ate three of them and thanked the chef profusely.

“It’s no trouble, Madam Director,” the chef said. “I’m just glad to see you looking well.”

The Director was somewhat flustered by this statement though she tried not to show it. She hadn’t been aware she’d been looking unwell before this.

Still, back in her quarters, she had to admit she was feeling better than she had since Candlenights. Physically at least. Emotionally, she felt a bit adrift. There really were so many other things she should be doing.

What was she going to do with time off? It wasn’t like she’d had time to pick up many hobbies in this dimension. God, when was the last time she’d painted? A decade ago? Did she even still remember how?

Her eyes flitted over a book lying forgotten on a side table. She’d received it as a gift last Candlenights and hadn’t found any time to read it in the months since. She would’ve refused to accept it at all only…it had been Angus who’d given it to her and she couldn’t bring herself to refuse him. He hadn’t even gotten her one of those Caleb Cleveland novels he was so fond of. She found the idea that he considered that to be appropriate reading material for the Reclaimers but not her extremely amusing if she was honest.

No, he’d given her a classic noir novel which he said he hadn’t read but came highly recommended.

Well…That seemed as good a plan as any. She had to admit: she’d missed having time to just sit down and read something for the fun of it. 

Almost tentatively, she opened the book to the first page and…stopped. She closed the book. What was she doing? She didn’t have time to waste on this!

The Director was getting so close to her goal now—two Relics left—and equally close to her deadline—a few more months. This was foolish. She should be working. What if they’d managed to locate the Temporal Chalice? She needed to be there to make sure everything was running smoothly. There was too much at stake!

She set the book aside and exited her quarters, heading for her office. Already, she was mentally compiling a list of what she needed to do.

She’d flicked on the lights and was moving towards her desk when a voice stopped her.

“Good afternoon, Madam Director.”

The Director drew up short. “Merle?” she stammered. “What the hell are you doing here?”

The dwarf in question was sitting in her office chair, Extreme Teen Bible open on his lap. “I figured you’d try to pull something like this.” 

“So you thought you’d just stake out in my office waiting for me to show up?” she said incredulously. “Have you been here all day?”

“Yep,” Merle said smugly. “Magnus and Taako said I was being stupid but I got you!” 

“That you did,” the Director said with a frown. “You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

“Is that likely?” he said.

“N-not to my knowledge,” she said, vaguely horrified. 

“’cause, y’know, you’ve been under a lot of stress lately.” 

“Merle! You’re being ridiculous. And get out of my chair!” 

He obliged her. 

“Thank you,” she sighed. “Now—now I’m just going to go and we’ll—we’ll forget about this.” She turned to leave.

“Oh, h-hey, wait! Lucretia,” Merle said. 

The Director whipped her head around. “It’s Madam Director,” she said automatically.

“Right,” Merle said, scratching the side of his face. “Well, uh, sorry. If I upset you. We at the Bureau, we care a lot about you. You’re doing good work and y’know, I consider you a friend so I wanna see that you’re taking care of yourself. I’d hate it if anything happened to you.”

“Oh,” Lucretia said quietly. “Thank you, Merle. That—that means a lot.”

“No problem, sister,” he said in his usual irreverent fashion. 

She smiled at him, subtle and genuine and full of affection.

Merle looked kind of stunned. “Has anyone ever told you you have a beautiful smile?”

_You have. A few decades ago. You used to say that all the time,_ was what she thought, but she couldn’t say that. What she said was, “Oh God, Merle. I’m still your employer.”

And he laughed and she left but not before she promised not to come back here again for the next few days. 

* * *

The Director was three chapters into her book before she realized it was well past lunchtime. She would have to remember to thank Angus later. It was a good read (a bit depressing, but it suited her).

She also realized it had been approximately _forever_ since she’d left the moon base. She was supposed to be on vacation, wasn’t she? And it would be good for her to get away so she wouldn’t be tempted to go back to work. 

It was second nature to her to carry the book and a notebook with her as she walked to the hangar. She had muscle memory left over from carrying stacks of journals with her everywhere she went for a century. 

Avi seemed surprised to see her which she should’ve expected. 

“Oh, uh, Madam Director,” he said. “What can I do for you?”

“Avi,” she said, greeting him with a nod. “I’d like to travel down to the planet please.” 

“Really?” he said in alarm. “Uh, I mean, sure. Where do you wanna go?” 

The Director paused for a moment, considering. “Neverwinter.”

“Okay,” he said agreeably and started priming a cannon. After a moment, he turned back to her. 

“Are you going on your own, Madam Director?”

“Yes. Why?” she asked.

“Well,” he said slowly, “I was just wondering for security reasons. Say, where’s Davenport?”

“Davenport will be remaining on the base. I’m…off-duty so he is free to do as he wishes,” the Director said.

“Oh, you’re going on vacation?” Avi said. 

“I suppose so,” she answered. “A very small one. I’ll be back by this evening most likely.”

Avi looked like he wanted to voice a concern but then thought better of it. “Alright. Safe travels, Madam Director.”

“Thank you.”

A few moments later, the Director was standing in the streets of Neverwinter, feeling only a little out of her depth. The city was huge and bustling and mostly unknown to her, but she’d been in much worse. It was navigable and she found a restaurant easily. 

She sat at a table by herself and thought back to the days on the Starblaster when the twins would drag the rest of them out to a restaurant they’d found. Those had always been good times regardless of what she’d thought of the food. She wished she hadn’t thought of it. She’d almost managed to forget how lonely she was, bury that particular unwanted emotion under mountains of paperwork. 

She suppressed a sigh and made a conscious effort to pull herself together. She had a few days off. She was sitting in a restaurant in one of the largest cities in Faerûn. It was more than she deserved at this point honestly. 

All of this thinking meant she was taken completely by surprise when the waitress came over to take her drink order.

“Hello! What can I get for you?” said the waitress, a smiling and beautiful elf (half-elf?) woman. 

“Oh, um…” Lucretia was taken aback. She’d spent so long on the moon base that she’d almost forgot the experience of running into attractive strangers. She found it as unsettling as she always had.

“Water. Please.” She hadn’t looked over the drink menu yet.

“Sure, no problem!” the waitress grinned. “Anything else with that? We got um…smoothies, iced tea, lots of different alcoholic options. I reckon you’re of drinking age, yeah?”

“I’m 133,” the Director deadpanned. Or was it 134? 135? She was losing track at this point.

“Wow, really?” said the waitress, totally sincere. “Are you not human? I could’ve sworn you were human.”

“No, no, I am. I was just…joking.” It wasn’t very funny.

The waitress laughed. “Alright then. I’m a half-elf so if all goes well I should live to be 133. Anyway, we were talking about drinks?”

“Oh. Yes. Wine?”

“Yeah, we should have some. What kind?”

“Dark,” the Director said by way of answer. “Red or purple. Other than that, surprise me.”

“Huh, alright. You got it,” the half-elf said and turned on her heel to go fetch it.

The Director prayed that conversations with people who didn’t work for her weren’t always this awkward. Then she flipped through her book and resumed reading.

Her mood was somewhat improved when the waitress returned with a glass of water and a bottle of scarlet red wine.

“Thank you,” the Director said briefly.

“Just doing my job,” the half-elf said breezily, brushing long auburn hair back behind one ear. The Director wondered if she was always this friendly at work and if so, how she managed it. 

“Whatcha reading?” the waitress asked.

“Hm? Oh, it’s uh, a noir novel. A um…friend got it for me awhile ago and I’ve been meaning to read it.” A friend. Well, she supposed that wasn’t entirely inaccurate.

“Oh, cool,” the waitress said, toying with her hair again. “I prefer cozy mysteries myself. Um, are you ready to order now?”

The Director was, thankfully, and it was much easier than ordering drinks had been—again, thankfully. 

It was, overall, a fairly pleasant way to waste some time: with a glass of red wine and a gritty novel. The food was pleasant too and the waitress perpetually friendly. She hoped this was what Merle had meant when he’d told her to take care of herself. 

She was pulled back to reality by the sound of someone sliding into the chair across from her.

“So, what’s a woman like you doing eating alone?” the man sitting across from her said with a smile that was too wide. He appeared to be human and firmly middle-aged.

“Excuse me?” was the only thing she could think to say.

“I only meant,” he said, “that it seems strange to me that you’re on your own. You didn’t get stood up, did you?”

“No. Definitely not,” she said. The idea was almost laughable, so far outside the range of likely it was. 

“Just a loner then?” the man said, not seeming to realize how incredibly pushy he was being.

“I suppose that’s one way to describe it,” she said shortly.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

That brought her up short. “Th—M—It’s Lucretia,” she said reluctantly after a moment. God, that felt weird as hell. “Do you want something?”

“What? I’m just being friendly. You looked lonely sitting here all by yourself.”

The Director refrained from rolling her eyes and took a big sip of wine. “Did I?” Regardless of whether she had been lonely or not, she had no interest in this man’s company.

“Yeah,” he said casually. “So where you from, Lucretia?”

The Director stiffened. “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?” the man said, confused.

“Don’t call me ‘Lucretia’.” It just felt…really wrong.

“Okay…” the man said slowly in a way that made it clear he thought she was being weird. She didn’t care. 

“What do you _want_ me to call you then?” he said, switching tactics and leering. 

“Nothing,” she said honestly. “To be completely transparent with you here, I would rather I wasn’t having this conversation.”

The man flushed angrily. “You—“

The Director raised her hands and cast Silence. Always a helpful spell to have on hand.

“Is there a problem here?” the waitress said suddenly appearing nearby,

“No,” the Director said evenly. “I-I think I’m done here. I’ll take the check now please.”

“You got it!” the waitress said, tilting her head curiously. She looked at the man sitting across from the Director. “Sir, I’m going to ask you go back to your own table now.”

The man’s lips moved and his hands gestured but no sound emerged. He seemed to groan in frustration inaudibly before he did as the waitress asked.

The waitress managed to keep a straight face until the man had left then she started giggling. “You can do magic?”

“Oh, some,” she said dryly.

“That’s so cool,” the half-elf said brightly and bounced off.

The Director finished off her glass of wine, musing to herself about what a strange day this was and if this was really all that restful.

The waitress returned, placed a ledger and a scrap of paper on the table, and scurried off without saying a word.

Somewhat confused, the Director picked up the piece of paper. On it was written two things—a Stone of Farspeech number and the name ‘Kara’. 

Suddenly feeling a bit warm, the Director cleared her throat and pocketed the note. She paid and left with a quick, hesitant smile directed at the beautiful half-elf across the room.

Honestly, the Director didn’t want to dig too deeply into everything she was feeling right now, but her steps felt a little lighter somehow as she walked through the streets of Neverwinter.

True, she was still no great conversationalist when it came to strangers and true, that man had made her somewhat uncomfortable, but still—she’d done okay. Kara had seemed to like her and _God_ , when was the last time Lucretia had interacted with someone who didn’t see her as the Director? That, in and of itself, was achievement. 

Now if she could only find somewhere nice to read her book, she’d be golden. Eventually, she wandered into a secluded park and settled in on a park bench and that was how she spent the remainder of her afternoon.

* * *

“Madam Director. Did you have a nice trip?” Avi asked when she returned to the base that evening.

“I think so,” she replied. “Is…everything alright here?” She was almost afraid to ask.

“Oh, uh, yeah! Seems to be.”

She sighed in relief. “Good. Good.” She’d known, logically, that they could all manage without her for an afternoon, but it still eased her mind a little bit to have it confirmed.

She ran into Merle in the hallway on the way to the mess hall and since this was her third Merle-related encounter in two days, she suspected this was deliberate. Surprisingly, the idea didn’t bother her so much as it amused her. And, if she was honest, it was nice to know someone was looking out for her.

“Ah, Madam Director!” Merle said, grinning. “I heard _you_ went off-base.” 

“You heard right,” she said, hiding a smile.

“Well, good for you!” he said. “You have a good time?”

She nodded. “I read a good book.” She was almost finished with it. She was almost positive she knew how it was going to end, but she was still looking forward to seeing if she was right. 

Merle laughed. “Couldn’t you have done that on the base?”

“With you boys distracting me?” she replied. “Definitely not. Besides, I haven’t been to Neverwinter in years.”

The dwarf laughed again. “Oh, Neverwinter’s fun. Didya do anything besides read?”

“I had lunch, yes.” 

“How was that?”

The Director considered this. “Well, a waitress gave me her number.”

Merle cackled. “Holy shit, really?”

She nodded and pulled out the note. “See?”

“Damn!” he said, sounding impressed. “What’s your secret? Waitresses never give _me_ their numbers.”

“I haven’t the faintest idea,” the Director said. “It was a somewhat surreal experience.”

“So are you gonna call her?”

“Oh, I don’t—I don’t know. I really don’t think that’s a good idea. I don’t have the time, and I work on the moon for God’s sake. How am I supposed to explain what I do?”

“Ehhhh, good point,” Merle said. “It’s a shame though.”

“Yes. She was very pretty,” Lucretia said absently.

“Y’know, I didn’t know you swing that way,” Merle commented.

“Wha—Oh. Well, there’s a lot you don’t know about me,” she answered. _And a lot you don’t know I know about you_ , she thought. Back in the day, the seven of them were privy to almost an uncomfortable amount of information about each other. It’s difficult to spend one hundred years with someone and not learn a thing or two about them. She knew that Merle tended to rise with the sun and that he didn’t like to be rushed in the mornings. She knew that Magnus didn’t fall in love unless he was close with them first (she was the same way). She knew that Taako and Lup had only had a crush on the same man once and that it had ended badly. She knew that Barry was lactose intolerant with a bad habit of forgetting it. She knew that Davenport went for walks when he was angry and had harbored a fondness for theatre since he was a child.

“Heh, ain’t that the truth?” Merle said. “You’re a very private woman, Madam Director.”

She couldn’t disagree. She had her reasons.

“I’m…demiromantic bisexual,” she said after a moment, more for clarity’s sake than anything else.

“Huh, no kidding,” Merle said which was about what he’d said roughly ninety-five years ago, the last time it had come up.

“Well,” the Director said after a moment, “I’m…going to retire to my quarters now.”

“Alright! Have a good evening, Lu—Madam Director!” 

“Yes. You too.” She left, pondering how most conversations with Merle ended rather awkwardly. She wondered if that was on her or him.

Perhaps her body was still making up for lost sleep because, despite her intention to finish her book, as soon as she got into bed she realized she was already half-asleep.

She supposed she could afford another early night; it wasn’t like she had anything to do tomorrow. The idea was curiously appealing after spending so long constantly working toward a goal.

Of course, she’d have to get back to that at some point, and the sooner the better… This was the last thought she had before she fell asleep—that she really had to get back to work soon.

* * *

The Director dreamed her least favorite dream that night. Well, it was more of a nightmare really. She was standing on the deck of a magnificent silver ship which was suspended in a lavender void. And she was not alone.

Six incredibly familiar figures dressed in bright red surrounded her. Looking at them filled her with crushing guilt. Her heart pounded and her stomach felt sick.

She knew what was going to happen before it did. She knew what they were going to say before the shouting started, but she couldn’t stop it.

“Traitor!”

“Coward!” 

“Thief!” 

“You took _everything_ from us!” 

“I trusted you!”

“How could you do this to us?!” 

“Liar!” 

The six of them advanced on her, penning her in and forcing her backwards. She tried to speak, tried to plead with them, but found she couldn’t. It felt as though a metal vise had closed around her throat, choking her breath. 

She was backed up against the edge of the deck. A glance over the side made her head swim. There was nothing, just a bottomless abyss.

She stared back at her friends, wide-eyed, as they advanced on her. Their expressions showed no sympathy, just anger, disgust, misery. 

“I’m sorry,” she managed to choke out.

“Then why’d you do it, Lucretia?” Davenport said, radiating disappointment and betrayal.

And then Barry stepped forward and, with the slightest nudge, sent Lucretia careening over the side into the vast nothingness below.

Scream caught in her throat, the Director’s eyes snapped open. Her heart was hammering and her hands were trembling as she fumbled to turn on a light, but after a few tries she succeeded, illuminating her small corner of the room. 

The light made her feel a bit better as she sat and took a few deep breaths, trying to stop feeling like she was falling. 

“I hate that dream,” she murmured aloud, just to break the silence. Afterward, the silence seemed louder than before.

She sighed, wondering if there was any chance she could go back to sleep after that. Whenever she’d had that nightmare in the past, she’d been unable to fall back asleep for the next few hours.

She feared this was the case now. She was still shaking slightly. God, this was infuriating. It was just a dream.

And yet, she couldn’t get the image of the six of them out of her mind, the image of Davenport’s face, the image of Barry’s anger, and the image of the underside of the ship as she fell and fell and—

She shivered and reached for her book. Right now, she’d rather read about someone else’s problems than face her own.

She’d been meaning to finish the book anyway. 

The sun was coming up planetside by the time she’d finished the book. Normally, she’d decide to just get up at this point, but instead, she went back to sleep and dreamed of absolutely nothing.

* * *

When the Director awoke, she was shocked and slightly panicked to find it was nearly lunchtime. This was enough to propel her out of bed and into the shower in record time.

Feeling she couldn’t justify coffee at noon but bad at waking up by nature, she was still blinking sleep out of her eyes as she dressed and made her way to the mess hall. She was somewhat dismayed to find it busy. She almost never showed up during rush hour—or at all—if she could avoid it.

The mess hall was packed with Bureau employees, chattering and eating, but that was no good reason to leave and she was starving so, assuming her best “I’m the Director don’t mess with me” posture, Lucretia strode inside.

This seemed to do the trick. At least, no one ran into her as she made her way to the counter. In fact, several people swerved to avoid doing so.

The real difficulty came when she was faced with deciding where to sit. Almost all of the seats were full and there was nowhere secluded.

“Hey, Lucretia! Come sit with us!” shouted someone from across the mess hall.

She flushed and cringed. So much for “I’m the Director don’t mess with me”. 

Sighing, she marched over to where Magnus was sitting with Taako and Merle.

“Magnus,” she said sternly, “I’ve told you before—it’s Madam Director.”

He grinned at her. “But you’re off-duty!” 

She sighed and took the seat across from Magnus, one of the few free seats in the mess hall. “I suppose so. Merle. Taako.” She nodded at them.

“Yeah, hey, what’s up?” Taako said absently. He was staring intently at his food for some reason. 

“Hey,” Merle said, taking a huge bite out of his sandwich. “Where’ve you been? I didn’t see you at all this morning.”

“I was sleeping,” She picked up a chicken tender and nibbled the end of it. Shit, that was good. She gulped down the rest of it. 

“Well, that would explain it,” Merle said. 

“Whoa, the whole morning?” Magnus said.

“Yes.” 

Taako looked up from his food. “Hell yeah. God, I wish these bozos would let _me_ sleep in that late.”

“Well, to be fair, we’re not _trying_ to wake you up, Taako,” Magnus said.

“Yeah, tell it to the bags beneath my eyes,” Taako said. The Director had no idea what he was talking about. His appearance was as immaculate as always.

“How much beauty sleep do you _need_?” Merle asked. “You got up at _nine_ this morning.” 

Taako scowled. “I’m on my grind. You only think that’s late ‘cause you get up at the asscrack of dawn to do yoga or some shit.” 

“Hey, yoga is very good for you. Takes care of mind and body.”

“You don’t do yoga,” Magnus said, baffled. “You usually just drink green tea and sit there.”

“Sometimes I water the plants!” 

The Director turned away to hide her smile.

“Well, in the future, water them less _loudly_ ,“ Taako said, flicking his fingers and transmuting the plain roll on his plate into cinnamon swirl bread. He held it up. “This probably won’t kill me, right?”

“Go for it,” Magnus said.

“Yeah, go for it,” Merle agreed. 

“…Why would you think it might kill you?” the Director asked. 

Taako’s gaze swept over her briefly, assessing. “Oh, no reason,” he said, taking a bite. “Just a joke.”

The Director was silent for a moment. “I see.”

“So why’d you sleep in so late? Seems out of character,” Merle said. 

“Ooh, good question,” Magnus put in. 

“I had a bad dream,” she said heavily. “It was difficult to get back to sleep after that.” 

“Yeah, I get that,” Taako said. “I keep having dreams that are just static. Probably some weird symbolism there or something.”

The Director swallowed. “Yes. Almost definitely.” 

“Oh! I had the weirdest dream the other night!” Magnus said. 

“Oh, not this again,” Taako said. 

“It was a really good one this time!” 

“Alright, let’s hear it,” said Merle. 

Magnus launched into a long-winded explanation of the dream he’d had. The Director listened without saying a word while Taako and Merle jumped in with quips. It wasn’t so bad. It was…kind of nice actually, just listening to them talk. It felt familiar; it felt natural. 

And this was okay. There was no danger in this. This was safe—she tried to convince herself of this, but it was difficult. She was afraid if she relaxed enough to actually enjoy spending time with them she’d forget the danger of it and let something slip. That could ruin everything. 

There was a lull in the conversation. “So…” she said slowly. “What are you boys going to do today?” 

“None of your fucking business,” Taako said. 

“Okay…” the Director said, not terribly shocked but slightly off-put. 

“He hasn’t decided yet,” Magnus translated. 

“Yeah, I’ll be honest. I haven’t exactly got a lot going on right now.” 

“I was planning on doing some sparring with the Regulators,” Magnus said. “You could join us if you want, Taako! You too, Lucretia!” 

“Sparring?” both of them repeated. 

“Yeah, I’ll pass,” Taako said. “I’d rather teach Angus more magic.” 

“It doesn’t have to be like, hand to hand combat. I know that isn’t really your thing.” 

“Nah, I’m saving my spell slots.” 

“ _O_ kay! Madam Director?”

“I don’t really, um…This is something you do for fun, Magnus?” she said. 

“I mean, yeah,” he said. “Like it’s kind of work-adjacent, but sparring and training is stuff I’d want to do anyway.” 

The Director nodded in understanding. “Merle, what are you doing?” 

“Oh, me? I’m just gonna see where the day takes me.” 

“I see. So Magnus is the only one with a plan.” 

“Well, what are _you_ doing?” Merle asked. 

“I don’t know either. Someone vetoed my usual plans.” She looked at him pointedly. 

“Don’t you have any hobbies?”

She paused and said, “I used to.”

“Well, what happened to them?” Merle said, raising an eyebrow. 

The Director shrugged. “I got too busy for them.” 

“Yeesh,” Merle muttered. “That seems to be a theme with you, doesn’t it?” 

“True.” She sighed and paused before she spoke again. “Maybe it’s time to do something about that.” 

* * *

It took quite a bit of digging before she found what she was looking for and even then she didn’t find everything, but this didn’t surprise her. It had been something like ten years after all. She’d need to buy some new supplies. It felt oddly frivolous to spend money on something that wasn’t essential, but she’d already made up her mind and she could, on occasion, be pretty damn stubborn.

This was how she found herself standing in the Art & Crafts section of the Fantasy Costco, looking at canvases. She swore Fantasy Costco was some kind of semi-sentient, potentially malevolent entity that grew to serve the needs of its master because there definitely hadn’t been an Arts & Crafts section last time she was here, but that was neither here nor there because she couldn’t convince Garfield to leave and it sold what she needed. 

She looked over the selection for a few moments, pondering what she was planning, but in the end, it was surprisingly easy to select a canvas and some extra paint and purchase it from Garfield the Deals Warlock who didn’t even charge anything exorbitant.

The Director was deep in thought as she returned to her quarters and laid out her canvas and her brushes and her paints and stared at them. She hesitated slightly and then picked up a pencil, twirling it in her long, thin fingers. Then she slowly started sketching out a scene on the canvas. 

* * *

The Director paused, hesitated for a moment, and set down her paintbrush. She took a deep breath and a step back to examine her work. It had taken her the remainder of her leave, but she thought it might be done.

The painting was a cityscape, done in a realistic style—her speciality. It depicted the skyline of an intricate and detailed Neverwinter but most of the painting was taken up by the night sky. Stars glowed orange and gold against an indigo backdrop and in the center of the painting were two moons, one real and one fake.

The Director stared at it contemplatively for a few more minutes. Yes, she decided. It was finished. She was acutely aware of several subtle flaws in the work and a few glaring mistakes, but she supposed that was to be expected. She was terribly out of practice.

Despite this, she felt satisfied with it. It didn’t _need_ to be perfect; all it had to do was look nice—and she was pleased to say that it did.

She allowed herself a smile, savoring her accomplishment, as she started to clean her brushes and put away her supplies.

_Now what?_ she wondered once she’d finished. The answer came to her soon enough. She’d finished it. Now it was time to show someone.

She wondered where everyone might be at this time of the night. Most had probably gone back to their rooms, but probably not everyone. 

She ensured her painting had finished drying with a spell—she had spell slots to spare—and ventured out into the base [in search of validation].

It was mostly deserted this late in the evening. She could hear voices from a few of the rooms she passed, but mostly, it was quiet. A few people were stargazing out on the quad, but she left them to it—they weren’t who she wanted to see and she didn’t want to interrupt them.

Finally, she passed by one of the recreational rooms and heard familiars voices shouting and laughing at each other inside.

_Perfect_ , Lucretia thought with a smile. She nudged open the door to the rec room and entered.

The three boys inside were, ostensibly, playing pool. It seemed to involve a lot of waving pool cues around and shouting. Merle fell silent when the Director entered and nudged the other boys.

Magnus grinned at her. “Oh, hey, Lucretia!” (She let it slide.) 

“’sup?” Taako said, leaning on a pool cue.

Merle nodded at her. “Fancy seeing you here, Madam Director.”

“Good evening, boys,” she said.

“So,” Magnus said conversationally, “what brings you here? Wanna play a game?”

“Uh, no. Well—maybe,” she amended. “Actually, I, uh, wanted to show you three something.”

“Ooh, what is it?” said Magnus.

With a belated sense of self-consciousness, she presented them with the painting. 

“It’s Neverwinter,” said Taako. “And the moon base.”

She nodded silently.

Magnus laughed. “Hey, this is pretty cool. Did you make this, Lucretia?”

She nodded again.

“Damn!” Merle said. “I didn’t know you were an artist!”

“I’d almost forgotten that myself actually,” she told him.

“So what made you remember?” Taako asked.

“The conversation we had the other day. That was why I wanted to show you,” the Director said. It was mostly true though it wasn’t the only reason.

“This is really great,” Merle told her, peering at the painting. “I like, uh, the colors. You used a lot of good colors.”

Lucretia beamed.

“Oh, yeah,” Magnus agreed. “Very good colors.” He elbowed Taako.

“Ow! Hey!” Taako yelped, massaging his side. “Yeah, it’s cool.”

She chuckled. “Thank you.”

“So…” Magnus said. “ _Do_ you wanna play a game?”

“Of pool?”

“We also have ping-pong,” Magnus said.

“Yes…” the Director said uncertainly.

“Cool, you can be on my team,” Magnus said decisively.

She was not sure what game they were playing, but she nodded. She could afford a game or two with her old friends before she had to get back to work tomorrow.

* * *

Her office looked much the same as it had when she’d left it three days ago—very neat and organized, somewhat spartan, with a big desk, a few chairs, and not much else save for a painting on the far well. Only two things had changed from the last time she’d seen it.

One was the large pile of paperwork that had accumulated on her desk. This was to be expected. She’d have to sort through it as quickly as possible and determine what could be put off and what had to be dealt with as quickly as possible.

The other was a painting of a cityscape she’d affixed to the wall.

And that was that. It was time to continue her quest.

She took a seat at her desk and started sorting through pages of reports and requests and other odds and ends that had made their way to her desk. 

She hadn’t made much progress when she paused. She read the report more intently. She froze. She read the report again. 

The Director set the page down on her desk and let out a deep breath of air. So. That was it then. There was no mistaking it.

One of her Seekers had found the location of the next Grand Relic. 

She had found the Temporal Chalice.


End file.
